President Donald Trump addressed questions Wednesday about the ongoing criminal investigation into former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan. Speaking during a multilateral lunch, Trump said the two men “may have to pay a price” for their role in the now-debunked Russia collusion narrative.
Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy pressed the president directly. “Do you want to see [Brennan and Comey] behind bars?” he asked.
Trump responded cautiously at first, claiming he only knew what he had read. But then he didn’t hold back. “I think they are dishonest people. I think they’re crooked as hell,” Trump said. “And maybe they have to pay a price for that. Whatever happens, happens.”
The FBI has launched separate criminal probes into both men over their roles in the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) and the Steele dossier. CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred Brennan for investigation after declassifying a “lessons learned” review of how the ICA was assembled.
That review flagged “procedural anomalies” and claimed that top intelligence officials had strayed from normal standards. It also contradicted Brennan’s 2023 testimony to Congress, in which he denied pushing to include the Steele dossier in the ICA.
Ratcliffe’s declassified materials showed Brennan had, in fact, supported its inclusion. That dossier—compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele—was later exposed as unreliable and politically motivated.
Meanwhile, Comey is under scrutiny for how the FBI used the unverified dossier to obtain surveillance warrants on Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. In 2018, Comey told Congress the FBI hadn’t verified the dossier. In 2020, he claimed he hadn’t been briefed on concerns surrounding the dossier’s source, Igor Danchenko.
Comey has also made misleading statements about the dossier’s origins. On multiple occasions, he told lawmakers it had initially been funded by Republicans—an assertion proven false.
Trump has long blamed Brennan and Comey for politicizing intelligence to damage his presidency. “They’re bad people,” Trump said Wednesday. “Very dishonest. Crooked as hell.”